"Won't you be my neighbor?" This classic line from the iconic television show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, is instantly recognized across multiple generations. The youngest baby boomers may have grown up watching the show as children and it's likely most children of boomers watched the show, as well. As one of the longest-running television shows in history, it spanned over 30 years from 1968 until 2001. The creator and star of the show, Fred Rogers, offered valuable life lessons in a comforting and compassionate way and encouraged children to imagine and dream.

Rogers passed away in 2003, just two years after the show ended, but he left a huge legacy behind. His fascinating life is now the subject of a recent documentary called "Won't You Be My Neighbor." The film, directed by Morgan Neville, takes a look behind the curtain at Rogers' life and explores how he dealt with cultural and social issues over the years. The documentary is sure to invoke a sense of nostalgia among viewers.

Now Rogers’ powerful life lessons are inspiring a new generation. For those of you with grandchildren, you may have seen the television show, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. If you have, you probably realized it is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mister Roger's Neighborhood. There are many cross overs from the original show: the main character, Daniel Tiger, wears a red sweater like Rogers, the same trolley is included, and many characters from the original show are featured. So, after all these years, Rogers' legacy is continuing to inspire and connect generations. It’s a unique and special thing.

And it probably won’t surprise you to learn that, like the original, the show is having a positive impact on its viewers. Research shows preschoolers who watch Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood exhibited higher levels of empathy, self-efficacy, and the ability to recognize emotions. There is an asterisk, though. For kids to benefit from watching the show, their regular TV-watching experiences had to be accompanied by frequent parent-child conversations about what happened on the show. This sounds like a great excuse to watch the show (with a grandchild if you’re lucky enough). So, if you have time, check out Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. You will be entertained picking up on all the similarities from the original show. Keep an eye out for the following characters especially:

Miss Elaina is the daughter of Lady Elaine Fairchilde.

Prince Wednesday is the son of King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday.

Katerina Kittycat is the daughter of Henrietta Pussycat.

O the Owl is the nephew of X the Owl, who should seem particularly familiar to you. The producer of the show said that "it was important to the Fred Rogers Company that X the Owl remains a crusty old bachelor as he was in the original series."

Image Credit: Terry Arthur (given in "eBay (v1)"), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Press_Photo_of_Fred_Rogers_%28Published_by_1982%29_%28cropped%29.png

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